Lilyflower
by Pen.Paper.Paradise
Summary: It's Lily's 7th year at Hogwarts and she has to deal with Head Girl duties, boyfriends, secrets, schoolwork, and a particularly annoying boy named James Potter. He's the most annoying guy on the planet...but why is Lily falling in love with him? R&R!
1. Here Comes The Sun

**Lilyflower: Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Harry Potter series (it's all J.K. Rowling's)**

**A/N: A long time ago I uploaded this story but then I took it off the site because I wasn't 100% happy with it and I uploaded it at a busy time for me. But now I'm uploading it again, with some changes, so I hope you enjoy it. This is my first story, so please give me any feedback (good OR bad). Ok, I'm done talking, now you can read.**

The golden sun was just peaking over the horizon when Lily Evans sat down on a grassy hill overlooking Hogwarts Lake. She stretched out her legs and stared out to the vast and tranquil lake. Her long red hair blew back behind her as a breeze danced around her. She sighed mournfully. It was her sixth year at Hogwarts, and the following year would be her very last at this wonderful school. Oh, how she would miss it!

Lily could remember, quite clearly, the day she received her Hogwarts letter. She couldn't believe it at first (neither did her whole family), and then squealed with delight when she figured out it was real. She was so young, almost like a different. She had had no cares or worries back then. Well, no _real_ cares or worries. Only stupid stuff like when her Levitation Charm essay was due or who to hang out with at lunchtime.

Looking back at these events made Lily feel much older than she actually was. It was so long ago, yet every detail was quite sharp in her mind. She wished she would never leave Hogwarts and stay there forever. But that is unrealistic. Lily sure would miss Hogwarts…

_What am I doing?_ Lily thought suddenly, slightly disgusted with herself. _It's not like I'm leaving forever tomorrow, I've still got a whole other year ahead of me. Why should I say my goodbyes now?_

The sun was rising fast now, almost completely over the horizon. Lily checked her watch. It was almost six in the morning. She yawned and thought, _maybe I should go back to the dormitory and get another few hours' sleep…_

So she stood up and, with one last glance at the majestic lake, turned and headed back toward Gryffindor Tower.

The empty castle was eerie as she silently walked its corridors. Every now and then she thought she saw a shadow other than her own move for just a fraction of a second. She thought she heard footsteps too. Wait a minute, she _did_ hear footsteps!

Lily stopped in her tracks. The only thing she heard now was her rapid heartbeat. Did she imagine it?

Then she saw something move about ten feet away from her. She whipped out her wand and yelled, "_Lumos!_"

Suddenly she heard a person's voice say, "Woah woah, hold your fire. It's just me, James."

James then stepped out of the shadows and presented himself to Lily. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Potter," she said fiercely. "What are you doing, trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Sorry," said James as Lily lowered her wand. "I didn't think anyone would be here. What were you doing here, anyway?"

"None of your business," snapped Lily. "Why were _you_ here?"

"None of your business," mimicked James. He smiled.

"I'm going back to Gryffindor Tower," said Lily. "Don't follow me, okay?"

"Don't worry, I'm not," James replied hotly.

"Well, good," said Lily. She started to make her way in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

"Fine," replied James curtly. He headed the other direction. Lily then walked away without looking back, and then waited until she could not hear his footsteps anymore. She stopped and turned around. He was gone. _Well, good riddance,_ she thought bitterly. But as she ascended the steps to her dormitory and climbed into her bed, she could not help but feeling guilty.

*** * * ***

Lily awoke with a start when she felt something thrown at her. She opened her eyes and saw that Elizabeth had thrown her pillow at her.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," ordered Elizabeth. She smiled. "We've got a big day ahead of us."

"What, you mean packing all day?" Lily asked.

"No," Elizabeth replied slowly. She tossed back her long, dirty-blonde hair. "Actually, that's what we'll be doing most of the day…but anyway, we have to pick up guys today!"

Lily gave her a look of confusion. "Are you serious?" Lily groaned groggily. "Why on Earth would we do that today? Summer break starts tomorrow."

"Exactly!" replied Elizabeth. She started to make her bed. "If we don't find boyfriends now, it will be a lot harder over summer because we won't be surrounded by guys. I mean, I will, but you guys won't." Lily threw her pillow at back at her. Then she pondered what Elizabeth said to her.

"Well, I guess that makes sense," responded Lily.

"'Atta girl," encouraged Elizabeth.

"Why must everyone talk so _loud_ in the morning?" Mary had woken up and was annoyed. She was not a morning person. She grumbled something about "no sleep last night" and headed into the bathroom.

"Mornin', Alice," said Elizabeth as Alice sat up in bed and stretched.

"Hey," she replied sleepily. "Happy Last Day of Sixth Year."

"Same to you," answered Elizabeth as she finished making her bed. Clarissa snored loudly so Elizabeth picked up the same pillow she threw at Lily and threw it at Clarissa.

Lily, who was completely unaware of what was going on around her, was thinking about what she had thought of earlier that morning. _Don't be all sad and mope around today,_ Lily thought. _Have fun with your friends._

Friends…Lily thought about her friends. Elizabeth, who was spunky and outgoing, was the best out of all of them at picking up guys. She was somehow naturally good at it. She had a look of confidence in her dull blue eyes everywhere she went. She always tossed her long dirty-blonde hair back and cared the most about fashion and looks.

Mary, who was less outgoing than Elizabeth, kept more to herself. She did not have many boyfriends. She loved sports, especially Quidditch (she played as Chaser on the Gryffindor team) and would much rather be doing that than school. School was hard for her, and though she loved her friends very much she could not help feel jealous when they did better than her in school. She had long black hair and her skin was tanner than everyone else's. Her eyes were dark brown, almost black, and she did not really care about her looks as much as other girls her age did.

Alice, on the other hand, was the best in school. She was a walking encyclopedia. She liked being at the top of her class, but she sometimes gets overworked and stress out easily. Most of her weekends include studying and reading, much to the annoyance of Lily. But she was very nice and friendly to everyone. She had light brown hair in a cute bob and her large, round eyes were hazel.

And then there is Clarissa. Her shoulder-length hair was blonde like Elizabeth's hair, but hers was more yellow. Her eyes were also hazel like Alice's, but Clarissa's eyes had more green in them. She acted a lot like Lily. In fact, it almost seemed like she tried to copy Lily at times. But Lily did not mind because she knew her friend just wanted to "fit in." She was a fun person to be around, but she was not very social. Lily often wondered why.

Her thoughts were once again interrupted by a pillow being thrown at her.

"Stop staring into space and get ready!" commanded Elizabeth in a hurried voice. Lily could not help but smile as she thought about how wonderful her friends really are.

**So? What do you think? Good? Bad? Terrible? Wonderful? So-so? Please rate & review!**


	2. With A Little Help From My Friends

**Lilyflower – Chapter 2 ~ With A Little Help From My Friends**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Harry Potter series (it's all J.K. Rowling's)**

**A/N: Finally, Chapter 2! Sorry it took so long, but writer's block has overcome me...I thought that once summer came around I would be writing all the time, but it's kind of hard to do that with writer's block. Ah well, it's done now! Special thanks to ****Opinionated1234**** for being my first reviewer. Rate, review, and enjoy!**

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were laughing hysterically on the train back to King's Cross station. They were reminiscing and sharing memories of the hilarious pranks they had pulled over the past year. Much of the memories involved fireworks, dungbombs, boils, frogs, and toilet explosion on the third floor.

They were just getting into great detail of the cauldron explosion in Professor Slughorn's classroom when Elizabeth entered their compartment.

"What do you want, Miss White?" asked Sirius innocently. Elizabeth ignored him.

"Remus, you need to go to the Prefect's compartment," she replied. Remus looked at his watch and groaned.

"Ah, right," said Remus. "I gotta get going, guys. See you later."

"Hold it," commanded Elizabeth as Remus started to exit the compartment. "James, you and Lily need to go to."

"Why?" inquired James. "I'm not a prefect, why do I have to go?" Elizabeth merely shrugged and left.

"C'mon," James muttered to Remus. They both departed the compartment and made their way to the front of the train.

"You're not in trouble, are you?" Remus asked James. James laughed sourly.

"Moony, I'm always in trouble," he replied.

They found their way to the Prefect's compartment and found that Lily was waiting right outside the door of it. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms at the sight of the two Marauders.

"It's about time!" she screeched as they approached her. "You're both late!"

"What else is new?" asked James lazily. "What are we here for, anyway?"

Lily grinned slyly. "You don't know?" she inquired. "Well, let's go find out."

They entered the compartment and found that there were about ten or so other students around their age, some a year or two younger, all wearing Prefect badges. A stout girl with red hair and a tall boy with thin hair were both sporting shiny Head Girl and Head Boy badges. They smiled when the trio sat down in their compartment.

"You must be Lily," said the Head Boy, shaking her hand. "And you're James?" He firmly shook James' hand too. "My name is Arthur Weasley, and you are probably wondering why you are here, right?" Both Lily and James nodded.

"Well, I received information from the Headmaster himself that you two are going to be the Head Boy and Girl next year."

The two exchanged surprised and anxious glances. They would _both_ be Head Boy and Girl? This means trouble. Arthur Weasley seemed to not notice their nervous looks and continued.

"Being Head Boy and Head Girl means that you have many responsibilities, both for the school and outside the school as well..."

Arthur continued his rehearsed speech but James was only half-listening. _How is this possible?_ he thought wildly. _What is Dumbledore playing at, making me Head Boy? Has he not seen my long criminal file in Filch's office? But it was quite obvious that Lily would be Head Girl. I mean, she has good grades and always follows the rules and is so pretty..._

"...And you will be sharing the Head Boy and Girl dormitory in Gryffindor Tower."

James was jerked out of his thoughts when he heard Arthur say this sentence.

"I'm sorry," interrupted James. "But what was that bit about _sharing_ a dormitory?

"You will indeed share living quarters," he clarified. "There are two separate bedrooms but they will be joined by a small common room. A different password is required to enter as well."

James and Lily exchanged mournful glances. James thought, _Oh, seventh year is going to be so much fun..._

After the meeting with the Head Boy and Girl and the Prefects, Lily and James returned to their separate compartments without saying anything to each other, both lost in thought. Neither of them could believe their luck. They had to spend the whole year in the _same dormitory_? And they had to do Head Boy and Girl duties together, such as patrol the corridors at night and other things like that. How could they even spend two minutes apart from each other?

The train rolled on through the emerald hills until finally they reached King's Cross station. As all of the students excitedly jumped off the train, Lily spotted her parents waving at her with huge smiles on their faces. She ran to them and hugged them both.

"Hello, my Lilyflower!" said her father. He had green eyes, just like she did, but his hair was light brown and short. His warm smile was Lily's favorite thing about him.

"How has your sixth year been, Lily?" asked her mother. Lily had her mother's hair and her build, but their personalities were quite different. Whereas Lily was bold and outgoing like her father, her mother was quiet and reserved. Other than the fact that they looked very similar, it was hard to tell that they were even related.

"It was fine," she answered. She looked around for her sister, Petunia, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Petunia?" Lily asked her parents. "Didn't she come?"

Her parents exchanged nervous glances.

"She..." Her father started to speak, but could not seem to find the right words to say. Finally, he said, "Lily, Petunia moved out of the house."

"What?" whispered Lily. If she were not surrounded by the hundreds of people around her, she could have cried right at that moment.

"She met this really nice boy and she moved in with him," her mother said gently. "His name's Vernon."

"How could she do this to me?" Lily said. "Is it because she hates me? Is that the real reason why she moved?"

Before her parents could answer, Lily picked up her luggage and said hotly, "I want to go home."

Her parents knew it would not do to argue, so they followed her to the car, where they drove the rest of the way home in silence.

When the family arrived home, Lily rushed up to her room without a word, slamming the door. She flopped down on her stiff bed and put her hands over her face. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She was, after all, almost an adult, and crying is something too immature for an adult.

_She moved out of the house?_ Lily wondered in bewilderment. _She didn't tell me about it. She didn't even say goodbye._

As Lily stared at the photograph on her nightstand of her and Petunia laughing and playing together, the tears that so defiantly wanted to be shed finally slid down her cheeks. She did not care how immature she was being, because all she was thinking about was how much she missed Petunia.

The beginning of the summer holidays flew by for Lily. She spent most of the start of summer in a haze and refused to leave her room. Petunia had not even visited yet, despite the words of hope from Lily's parents that they believed Petunia will drop by soon.

A week after Lily returned from Hogwarts, she decided to write a letter to her sister. It took her an hour to write it because she kept changing and adding and deleting words and phrases. She wanted the letter to be thorough and to not leave any of her thoughts out. Most of the letter was about Lily's feelings of misery and gloom, and she hoped Petunia would feel sorry for Lily when she read the letter and would instantly come back home.

A few days after Lily sent the letter, a short note from Petunia arrived late at night. It read:

_ Lily,_

_ I know that you are feeling very sad that I left without warning, but I wish for you not to attempt to contact me again. Vernon and I are trying to live a quiet life away from our families and from people like you, and we would appreciate it if you (and our parents, for that matter) would let us live our own life in peace._

_ Petunia_

The brief, uncaring letter caused Lily to keep to her room for a week straight. She only left it to use the bathroom and to pick up the food her distraught parents left for her outside of her door every day.

The only thing keeping Lily sane over the summer was her friends. They regularly kept in touch to see how she was doing under all this stress and to giver her words of encouragement. Her pretty brown owl, Athena, flew back and forth between their houses and would come back home to her window with a stack of letters in her beak, thoroughly exhausted.

The one person who surprised her with a letter one night in July was James Potter. She received a short note from him that seemed a little too formal, but then again Lily hated his guts. James asked her how she was doing because he had heard about the incident with Petunia and he mentioned his address. Lily responded to his letter immediately and they kept corresponding throughout the summer ever since.

All in all, it was not Lily's best vacation. She slept over at her friends' houses a few times and went shopping once or twice, but she still mostly stayed in her room by herself. Finally, when September first started to draw nearer, Lily's stress lessened and she finally started to feel hopeful, even excited, about the upcoming year at Hogwarts.

James, on the other hand, could not think of a more perfect way to spend his summer vacation.

He spent the first half of summer with the other Marauders. They plotted and devised plans to create diabolical pranks that would go down in Hogwarts history. They drew diagrams, created maps, and wrote down the details of their anticipated tomfoolery.

One night in the middle of summer, James was staying up late reading about Quidditch (he had received a book about it from Remus last year) when he suddenly heard a knock on the front door.

James looked up from his book, listening hard. He glanced sideways at his clock and saw that it was past midnight. _Who would come to our house this late at night? _thought James.

His parents seemed not to hear the noise because he did not hear them get out of bed. Or maybe, there was nothing to be heard. Had he simply imagined it?

The person outside his front door rapidly knocked again. James, making up his mind that he had _not_ imagined it, picked up his wand and headed downstairs.

As he silently crept closer and closer to the door, James could not help thinking that if it was some kind of burglar, wouldn't they just knock down the front door or break a window to get in? Or maybe it was some kind of madman. Maybe there was a crazy person standing outside with a knife, waiting to slash whoever opened the door.  
James set aside his fear and opened the door swiftly, pointing his wand at the shadow on the porch.

The shadow was bending over and panting, then it looked up at James. James recognized the face instantly.

"Sirius!" he shouted. Sirius groaned and fell forward. James caught him and yelled, "Mom! Dad! Come down here!"

He carefully laid Sirius down on the floor and examined him. His body was covered in cuts and bruises, most of them on his face. James felt sickened as he looked at them.

"Sirius," James said clearly. "What happened?"

Sirius looked at James with unfocused eyes. He said nothing. They both heard heavy footsteps come down the stairs.

"Who did this to you?" he asked more urgently.

Sirius closed his eyes. His face was full of pain and it made James more concerned.

"I needed to get out of there," said Sirius softly. "I'd had enough."

"What's going on?" his father asked at once, coming down the stairs. "Who is that?"

"Is that...Sirius?" asked his mother slowly. James nodded. "Get him on the couch," she said.

With help from his father, James lifted Sirius onto the couch. Sirius groaned and James winced at the obvious pain his best friend was in.

"It was my parents," mumbled Sirius. "My parents...did this to me."

James shook his head and his mother gasped in shock.

"I always knew...this was going to happen," Sirius continued painfully. "They couldn't...stand me. They couldn't..."

"Everything's alright now, Sirius," said James' mother gently. "You don't have to go back there ever again. You can stay here." She pleadingly looked at her husband and he nodded in agreement.

"Everything's fine now," she said again. Her face was sliding in and out of focus and Sirius blacked out.

Ever since that day, all summer Sirius had lived with James and his parents. To James, it was like having a brother around all the time. To his parents, Sirius was a second son. Sirius finally felt like he had a family, like he belonged somewhere for once.

James started to write to Lily after that incident. It was part of his plan to get Lily to fall for him. He figured that in order for Lily to start liking him, he would have to be her friend first and gain her trust. And writing a letter seemed like the perfect peace offering.

When Lily replied to the first letter, he knew he had done the right thing. He knew his plan had started to work.


	3. Something

**Lilyflower – Chapter 3 ~ Something**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Harry Potter series (it's all J.K. Rowling's. *Sigh*)**

**A/N: Chapter 3 is FINALLY here. It's a little short but, hey, at least it's here. And here is the reason for my never-ending hiatus: it's an evil little thing called writer's block. :( So sad, I know, but it happens to every writer and thankfully I got over it. Thanks to OliveTreeHugger for putting this story on Story Alert and thanks to yashine101 for annoyingly (er, I mean, nicely) reminding me to stop doing other things and just write the damn chapter. Hope you enjoy it! :)**

The day was bright and sunny as the Hogwarts students filed into the Great Hall. Lily took this weather as a sign that her seventh year would be bright and sunny, too. Hopefully.

She was finally back at school. Back to the place of happy memories and friends and opportunities. Lily was excited because she hoped she would get a fresh start this year and would be able to forget about her previous summer that was nothing less than a three-month hell. Being back at school would make Lily forget about all it...But only one thing weighed down her happiness.

Potter.

Why on earth must she be Head Girl while Potter is at her side as Head Boy? She did not know why Dumbledore was doing this. Maybe Dumbledore was just playing a joke on her and would really tell her who the real Head Boy was once the feast started. Lily knew she was lying so she did not believe herself.

When she entered the Great Hall her memory was awakened as the familiar sights, sounds, and smells wrapped around her. She finally felt good about herself. She finally felt hope. She finally felt like she was at home.

Then, like the flame on a candle being blown out suddenly, her world came crashing down as her eyes laid on Potter and his Marauder friends sitting at the Gryffindor House table.

But wait...was it really Potter? He had gotten noticeably taller, there was no denying that, and his skin was a bit more tan. As Lily eyed him from across the room she could not help but think that he looked...well, he looked handsome. For once. His face seemed less arrogant and his smile was less suspicious.

Perhaps he had matured over the last summer. Lily had evidence of that because of the letters they had written each other. It was very unexpected when Potter's owl arrived at her windowsill with a tightly furled note in its beak. She read about the horrible things Sirius' parents had done to him and that now he was staying at the Potter's house. Somehow, she felt sorrow toward James because he had to deal with all this so she wrote back to him. She surprised herself when she began to write "Dear James" at the top of an old piece of parchment and wrote about her own problems. Then after that, they wrote regularly to each other, sometimes every day. Through her hard times Lily felt comfort that a friend was there for her and actually listened to her problems.

Lily caught up with her friends and took her seat at the enormous table (a good distance away from the Marauders) with them. They were talking and complaining about how hungry they were when the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, arose from his chair in the center of the staff table and spoke to the crowd.

"Welcome, old and new students of Hogwarts! Another year has approached ever-so-quickly again, and with the start of the new school year comes the list of announcements to be made to each and every one of you..."

As Dumbledore began his list of forbidden areas and school rules, Lily's eyes wandered toward James. There was something different about him, something Lily could not quite put her finger on. Had he matured? Doubtful. But perhaps he would be less arrogant and less annoying this year because it was their final year here at Hogwarts.

Hopefully.

"Now _this_ is a common room!" shouted Sirius.

He, Remus, and Peter had followed James to his special Prefect's common room in Gryffindor Tower. The room was painted red and gold with matching furniture filling it. A large fireplace with a red and gold tapestry of a griffon over was at the back of the room, and on either side of the common room were doors that led to the Head Boy's and Head Girl's bedrooms.

"I know," James replied to Sirius' comment. "Aren't you jealous?"

"Well, not really, because you and I both know that me and the rest of us Marauders are going to be spending a lot of time up here."

"You know, there _is_ a password to get up here," James stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, but you wouldn't keep the password a secret from your friends, now would you?" asked Remus.

"Depends on what you mean by 'friends'..." said James.

The portrait door swung open and Lily entered alone. She glanced around at them and narrowed her eyes.

"Hello, Lilykins," said Sirius cheerfully.

"Hello, boys," she replied with less enthusiasm. There was an awkward pause where the Marauders and Lily simply looked at each other. Then Lily sauntered over to her bedroom, entered it, and shut the door unceremoniously behind her.

"Well, glad to see that you and Lily have passed that awkward phase," Sirius pointed out.

"Yeah, that went well," Remus said with a laugh.

"Oh, shut up," ordered James grumpily. "Just because we wrote to each other over the summer holidays does not mean we're best friends now. She probably still hates my guts."

"Oh, you're exaggerating," said Sirius with an impatient wave of his hand. "She probably only _dislikes_ your guts."

"Gee, thanks," sighed James. "That makes me feel loads better."

"Cheer up, Prongs mate," Sirius said brightly. "You've got the entire year to get Lily on our side. Just keep working at it and eventually she will see the nice, giving, and polite side of you. Or maybe she won't, 'cause I've never seen that side of you."

James stared menacingly at Sirius.

"What?" asked Sirius defensively. "I'm just saying it like it is."

James sighed. "But what if one year isn't enough? What if I can't get her to like me in a year?"

His friends looked at him quizzically.

"What do you mean, one year isn't enough?" inquired Peter. "You'll still see Lily after Hogwarts, won't you?"

"That's the thing," said James sadly. "I don't know if I'll still be friends with her after this year. If I won't, then this year is the only time I have. One year is all I have to convince the person I love that I'm perfect for her."

Sirius put a hand on his best friend's shoulder and smiled sadly.

"I don't think you should give up hope just yet, mate. In all seriousness, I think you can convince her that you're a good guy. It'll just take time. And a really good plan."

Sirius had that certain glint in his eye...That glint that always shows when he has a good idea. James knew this was a bad sign, but he could not help but smile a little.

"What do you have in mind, Padfoot?" he asked hesitantly.

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that..." replied Sirius evasively. "I don't have a well thought out plan yet, but I have a couple of good ideas at the present..."

"I don't like where this is going, mate," said James warily.

"Once you hear my plans, you'll be singing a different tune," said Sirius. "Now, one of the plans in mind must be carried out very soon –"

"How soon is 'soon'?" asked Remus.

"Tomorrow morning," Sirius said confidently. "And I know just the thing that'll make it perfect..."

The Marauders spent most of the night planning and arranging details for the next morning. They worked and discussed until all hours of the night, and James, exhausted but happy, climbed into bed and smiled as he drifted off to sleep, thinking about the day to come. It would be perfect, everything will go right.

Hopefully.

**A/N: Reviews are appreciated. So are cookies.**


	4. I've Got A Feeling

**Lilyflower – Chapter 4 ~ I've Got A Feeling**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Harry Potter series (it's all J.K. Rowling's. *Sigh*)**

**A/N: I'm not even going to comment on how long it's been since I've updated...Just have fun reading this chapter; I had fun writing it. And don't forget to review!**

The Great Hall was buzzing with anticipation as the students gathered together on the morning of the first day of classes. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were huddled together as they finalized their plans to get Lily to fall in love with James. Phase One was about to commence.

When Professor McGonagall began to hand out schedules, the Marauders sprang into action. Sirius and Peter ran to the corridors while James and Remus advanced toward Lily, trying to be as nonchalant as they could. They tried to keep their distance from her but also tried to keep her in sight. She was waiting in line with the other Gryffindors to receive her schedule, oblivious to the well-thought-out plan in action.

"Okay...now," said Remus, giving James a shove. "Go now."

James approached her and Lily rolled her eyes when she saw him.

"What do you want, Potter?" asked an annoyed Lily.

"Now, now, Lilykins," James said playfully. "Is that the right tone you should be giving your Head Boy?"

Lily crossed her arms and turned away from him.

"Fine," said James, trying to sound convincing. "I guess you don't want to be around me."

"Wow, you just figured that out?" Lily snapped with a smirk.

"Guess I did," said James as he strolled away from Lily. He stopped and turned his head toward her, saying, "Oh, by the way...I guess you don't want to hear it from me, but a first year is stuck on the stairs between the second and third floor. Ta."

James left Lily standing dumbstruck as he quickly exited the Great Hall. He turned his head behind him slightly to see if Lily swallowed the bait: she did. She hurried off toward the staircases while James turned back around to Professor McGonagall.

"Professor," James said slyly.

"What is it, James?" asked Professor McGonagall, annoyed. "I already gave you your schedule."

"I _know_ that," he replied, pretending to roll his eyes. "I came back to pick up Lily Potter's schedule."

"Lily?" inquired McGonagall. "Why can't she get her own schedule?"

"She asked me to get it for her. You see, she had to talk to Professor Dumbledore about some Head Girl stuff and she was afraid she wouldn't get back to the Great Hall in time."

McGonagall hesitated, then pulled out Lily's schedule and said, "Alright, I believe you. But if you do anything to her schedule –"

"Professor, I'm appalled!" James gasped. "How could you think I would do something like that?"

James left before McGonagall could answer.

"Did you get it?" Peter asked quickly. He and Remus had been waiting outside the Great Hall for James, who rushed over to them clutching Lily's schedule.

"Hell yeah, I got it!" James exclaimed happily. He pulled his own schedule out of his pocket. "Let's compare them now."

All three of them bent over and compared the two schedules.

"Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration..." Remus listed. "Hang on, she's taking Herbology and you're not, mate."

"Well, I guess we'll have to change that," James said with a smirk. He pulled out his wand, tapped the schedule, and the word "Herbology" followed by the class period appeared magically on the paper.

"I love being a seventh year," James remarked, stowing his wand and his newly-revised schedule back into his robes. "We know how to do all this magic we never could have done in our first year."

The bell rang so the trio traipsed off to their first class of the day, Charms. James kept an eye out for Lily to give her back her schedule and, sure enough, she stormed up to the Marauders, saying, "Give me my schedule, Potter."

"How do you know I have your schedule?" asked James, grinning.

"McGonagall," she answered. "And that's who I'm going to go straight to if you don't give me back my –"

"Alright, alright," he said, handing her schedule to her. "Here you go."

She snatched it out of his hands and walked away without saying a word.

"What, no 'thank you?'" James called after her.

Lily pretended not to hear him.

"Well, Phase One went better than I had expected," remarked Remus.

"Yeah," agreed Peter. "Let's just hope Lily doesn't suspect anything's going on."

"Lily's not stupid," said James. He dropped his voice because they reached the Charms classroom and Elizabeth and Clarissa were waiting outside. "I'm sure it's going to be kind of obvious to her when she notices I'm in _all_ her classes."

"Just give it time, mate," said Remus quietly. "Lily will come 'round, I've got a feeling she will. Besides, we still have all year to carry out the rest of The Plan."

"Yeah," James said absently as the class filed into the Charms classroom.

Lily caught up with her friends and sat down in the second row. James sat directly behind her, with Sirius and Remus on either side of him.

Professor Flitwick kicked off the new school year by having them all practice Disillusionment charms with partners. James leaned forward to ask Lily to be his partner but Clarissa beat him to it. Skulking, James practiced with Sirius (who almost set James' head on fire) and daydreamed about Lily.

Their next class was Herbology. James was the only Marauder who was taking Herbology this year so he sat alone at the back of the room. He watched as Lily and Mary walked in and looked for a place to sit. The only available seats were next to James, so the pair reproachfully sat down next to him. Lily no doubt looked surprised to see him at first but then she smirked at him when she saw him sitting alone. James noticed this.

"Something wrong, Lilyflower?" he asked sweetly.

"Nope," she answered, tossing her red hair behind her. "It's just odd to see you without any of your 'Marauder' friends worshipping you. And don't call me that."

"What you don't like 'Lilyflower?' How about 'Lilykins,' is that better?"

"Shut up, James," snapped Lily.

He stopped bothering her when Professor Sprout started her "this-is-a-very-important-year-so-don't-fall-behind" monologue to the class. But he was not paying attention in the least bit; he kept thinking how Lily had called him by his first name.

He had been so used to being called "Potter" by her that when she said "James" his stomach jolted. Surely it did not just slip out...she had called him by his first name on purpose, definitely. But why? Maybe the fact that he was around her more made her notice him.

"_Shut up, James."_

James had a feeling this was a very good sign.


	5. AUTHOR'S NOTE  PLEASE READ!

**So.  
To the two or three followers of this story (haha) and for anyone reading this for the first time, I wanted to say that I'm not going to be pursuing Lilyflower as a continuous story anymore. This does NOT mean I'm not going to be writing about Lily and James anymore, because I will, but I'm going to do them as separate stories like oneshots, not as one big long story. The reason for this is I have a ton of ideas for stories and scenes that include Lily and James but I feel held back by starting all the way from the beginning in Lilyflower. That being said, this is the end of Lilyflower. I'll probably use the same characters that I used in Lilyflower but other than that I won't be adding any new chapters. Sorry if you started this all the way from the beginning, I know I hate it when people drop stories like I did, but I hope you'll read the other stories I've published. :)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**marauderluv94**


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